No Shoes Please!

It is almost the end of the month, and that means it is Blog Hop Linky Party time over at the Club Scrap Blog.   This month I had a project in mind even before my Boardwalk Lite kit arrived. It all started with a trip to my local Ben Franklin store where I found this at a real good price:

My daughter recently moved to a new apartment which has carpeting. Her and her roommate decided to invoke a “no shoes in the house” policy to try to keep the carpet in good shape. My project is a house warming gift to help them get the word out to their visitors:

I won’t bore you with all the details of how this came together, but I will share a few highlights. (All the supplies came from my Boardwalk light kit except where noted.)  To start, I downloaded the Lobster font that Club Scrap used for this kit and printed out “welcome” on a piece of copy paper. After fussy cutting out the letters, I inverted them (because I didn’t think far enough ahead to invert before printing) to use as a template onto a piece of the navy paper and fussy cut them again. A couple coats of UTEE gave them a glassy look to blend in with the glass in the frame.

The “relax…” and “enjoy!” came from the Boardwalk stencil  included with my kit. They were stenciled onto a piece of the navy paper using Ranger Texture Paste which I colored with a few drops of Cloudy Blue Alcohol Ink. The “kick off you shoes” message was printed using the Lobster font onto part of one of the cut-apart journal cards from the kit.

I finished off the piece by staining the sides and back with Tarnished Brass Distress Stain, and by inking the front edges with Earth Club Scrap ink.

The flip flop stamp on the tag is from Stampendous. It was stamped with VersaMark ink embossed with Denim Zing EP, and colored in using Tumbled Glass, Candied Apple and Frayed Burlap Distress Markers.

Hopefully this will help my Daughter and her roommate keep their carpets in good shape.  (Or, at least brighten up their walls a little.)

Thanks for stopping by!

Birthday Agates

We are up to week number four of the Summer of Creative Chemistry!  The challenge this week is to create a project using Archival Ink. I combined that with Alcohol Inks and made a birthday card:

I started with the Alcohol Ink Agates technique using Sail Boat Blue, Citrus, Sunshine Yellow and Silver Mixative Alcohol Inks.  The background stamp, from Club Scrap (Time Of Your Life kit), was stamped with Jet Black Archival Ink.

The sentiment, from Club Scrap (Moroccan Spice Greetings Unmounted Rubber), was stamped with the same Jet Black Archival Ink onto a scrap of velum then embossed with WOW Clear Embossing Powder.

Other supplies I used:

**paper is Club Scrap.

**brads and ribbon are from my stash.

Thanks for stopping by!

Perfect Chemistry

I am really enjoying the refresher of Creative Chemistry 101. Each week when I re-watch the videos I find little tidbits of information or techniques that I had forgotten about.  The challenge for week three of the Summer of Creative Chemistry is to use Perfect Pearls & Distress Inks or Stains.  Here is what I came up with:

The background started with a wash of Tumbled Glass, Evergreen Bough and Shabby Shutters Distress Stains, and edges inked with Evergreen Bough Distress Ink.  I stamped a Heartfelt Creations background stamp with Blueprint Sketch and Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink, then dusted it with Pewter Perfect Pearls.   The focal image was done the same way with the same supplies, then fussy cut out.  It is a Club Scrap stamp (I got it as an extra so I don’t know what kit it is from).

Other supplies I used:

**paper is from Gina K Designs (base) and ClubScrap.

**center image base is a die from Taylored Expressions.
  

**sentiment is a stamp from I Break For Stamps, stamped on a scrap piece of velum (brushed with a little bit of Pewter Perfect Pearls mixed with water) with Gina K Designs In The Navy Ink and embossed with Gina K Designs Clear Fine Detail EP.

**ribbon and bling are both from Club Scrap.

Thanks for stopping by!

In Distress…Stains

It is another “one card for two challenges” post.  (I feel extra productive!)  This week’s Summer of Creative Chemistry challenge is to use Distress Stains and stamps.  June’s technique challenge over on the Club Scrap Blog is to create your own handmade embellishment. When I combined the two ideas, I came up with this birthday card:

The backgrounds are Faded Jeans, Broken China and Shabby Shutters Distress Stains on water color paper, with Salty Ocean Distress ink sponged on the edges.  Both layers are done the same, except a background stamp from Club Scrap’s Navigation Borders & Background stamp set was stamped with Brushed Pewter Distress Stain on the top panel. It didn’t create a detailed image, but I like the extra texture that it added.  I also used the same Distress colors on the sentiment banner with the Brushed Pewter “painted” over the top of them. 

For my handmade embellishment, I took a scrap piece of paper, coated it with VersaMark ink and covered it with Silver Zing embossing powder.  After repeating that process about four times, I stamped the image using a Club Scrap stamp from the “Artifacts” kit (be sure to use the VersaMark on the stamp before stamping into the warm embossing powder). I fussy cut it out, then rubbed a little bit of Black Soot Distress Paint on it to highlight the details a little more. I also made my own “nailheads” on the sentiment banner by punching out the dots using a small hole punch on some scrap black paper, then covering them with Glossy Accents after gluing them down.

Other supplies I used,

**paper from Club Scrap and Strathmore Water color paper.

**the sentiment is a stamp from Club Scrap’s “National Parks” kit, stamped with Onyx Black Versafine Ink and embossed with Gina K Designs Clear Fine Detail EP.

**the ribbon is from Club Scrap’s “Creative License” kit which I slightly altered with the Brushed Pewter Distress Stain.

Thanks for stopping by!

Monochromatic Birthday Card

Once I got around to really looking at this week’s Mojo Monday sketch…

…the proverbial lightbulb light up. It has been awhile since something came together this quickly for me. I did tweak the sketch a little, but here is the finished birthday card:

The background is a technique called Faux Textured Metal Paper that I got from a Jennifer McGuire video. After using some Washi tape to mask the edges of the cardstock, I sponged on Weathered Wood, Stormy Sky and Hickory Smoke Distress Ink. Then I brushed on Pewter Perfect Pearls before removing the tape mask. The panel was then embossed using a Tim Holtz Alterations (Sizzix) embossing folder.

Other supplies I used:

**paper is from Gina K (Base), and Club Scrap.

**the clock is a stamp from Stampers Best (now Deep Red Stamps), stamped with VersaMark ink, embossed with Silver Zing EP and cut out with a Spellbinders Standard Circle die.

**the sentiment is stamp from Club Scrap’s “Time of Your Life” kit, stamped with VersaMark Ink and embossed with Club Scrap’s Hematite EP.

**the ribbon is from Club Scrap’s Cape Cod kit. 

Sometimes it is good to wander a little out of your comfort zone as I did with this card.  I normally use brighter colors, but since this is a card for my Brother-in-law, I think the blue/gray monochromatic feel works pretty well.

Thanks for stopping by!

Creative Chemistry!

I’ll admit that I was not big on the science classes back in school, especially Chemistry. But, for some reason, taking a “Chemistry” class from Tim Holtz is way more fun and interesting! I am so looking forward to the Creative Chemistry 103 online class in August! In the meantime it has been good to go back an refresh the knowledge I learned from  CC101. Here is the card I made for the Summer Of Creative Chemistry Week 1 challenge:

The background was done with the “Spritz & Flick” technique using Mustard Seed, Mowed Lawn, Ripe Persimmon and Seedless Preserves Distress Ink. The edges were distressed with Black Soot Distress Ink.

The flowers were cut out of an art orphan that I finger painted, blending Seedless Preserves and Brushed Pewter Distress Paint.  I used Spellbinders – Heartfelt Creations “Daisy Patch” dies to cut them out, and a Stampers Anonymous “Croc” background stamp to add a little detail.  Each one was finished off with a Gold Jewel Dazzle sticker.

Other supplies I used,

**paper from Gina K (Base), Ranger Speciality Paper (background), and Club Scrap.

**the “hello” lattice was cut out using a Creative Expressions die.

**the ribbon was a piece left over from an old Taylored Expressions kit.

Thanks for stopping by!

Two for One

I tied together two challenges today: the weekly challenge at Gina K’s Stamp TV which is to use black and white with a pop of color, and the Mojo Monday 450 card sketch challenge, which looks like this: 

I sprinkled in a bit of whimsy and came up with a card that looks like this: 

White is not my favorite color, and using a lot of it on a project is hard for me. To help me get past this, I sprayed a piece of white cardstock with both Iridescent Memories Mists and “Perfect Pearls” Perfect Pearls Spray to shimmer it up some. The sentiment stamp (from the Club Scrap “Adobe” kit) was stamped with VersaMark Ink, and embossed using  Zing "Mustard" EP. When it didn’t show up as much as I wanted it to, I put it back in my MISTI stamping tool (you really should check them out if you don't have one!!) and stamped it once more using "Onyx" Club Scrap Ink.  After hitting it with the heat gun again, it gave me almost a shadow effect and made the sentiment easier to read. Then I embossed it using a Spellbinders M-Bossabilities folder, doing it in stages so I wouldn’t emboss over the sentiment. 

The image stamp is from a Gina K stamp set duo called “Melt My Heart” which sadly doesn’t seem to be available any more. It was stamped with VersaFine ink, then embossed with WOW clear EP.  I colored in the scarf and hat using a "Fossilized Amber" Distress Marker, and I colored in the beak and feet using a Wild Honey Distress Marker that apparently is running dry. I liked the effect it gave though! I painted in the snowball and parts of the hat using a mixture of the two sprays (from the background). The banner was edged with the VersaFine ink. 

The other supplies I used are:

**paper from Gina K (base), and Club Scrap.

 

**the ribbon is from Club Scrap’s “Bon Apetit” kit (unfortunately no longer available) .

**the snowflake was cut out of a piece of black card stock that had been sprayed with the same two sprays as the background. The die is from Taylored Expressions.

**the little scrap of yellow on the side of the background was cut with wavy die from Stamps Of Life.  

Thanks for stopping by!